Savile sent letter to Thatcher declaring his 'love'

Neil Tweedie London

JIMMY Savile's hold over Downing Street in the 1980s is revealed in a series of letters in which he declares his "love" for former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, according to newly released records from Britain's National Archives.

JIMMY Savile's hold over Downing Street in the 1980s is revealed in a series of letters in which he declares his "love" for former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, according to newly released records from Britain's National Archives.

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Savile sent letter to Thatcher declaring his 'love'

Independent.ie

JIMMY Savile's hold over Downing Street in the 1980s is revealed in a series of letters in which he declares his "love" for former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, according to newly released records from Britain's National Archives.

Savile met Mrs Thatcher at Downing Street and Chequers in his successful attempts to secure a government donation for Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

In a letter sent to Mrs Thatcher in February 1980, Savile said that his "girl patients" were "madly jealous" of her. He later asked her to appear on 'Jim'll Fix It', a request she declined.

Since his death it has been alleged that Savile sexually abused sick girls at the hospital, some of whom were as young as eight. As a major fundraiser he was left "free to roam" the wards and even had his own room.

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The hospital is only three miles from the prime minister's official residence, Chequers, and Savile became a friend of Mrs Thatcher. The pair reportedly spent New Year's Eve together 11 years in a row.

The first meeting took place in February 1980. A week later Savile sent Mrs Thatcher a handwritten note in which he wrote: "Dear Prime Minister. I waited a week before writing to thank you for my lunch invitation because I had such a superb time I didn't want to be too effusive. My girl patients pretended to be madly jealous + wanted to know what you wore + what you ate. All the paralysed lads called me 'Sir James' all week. They all love you. Me too!! Jimmy Savile OBE xxx."